Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

Teachers in Springfield, Missouri, voted 574-404 to have a single union represent them at the bargaining table. The result is a victory for NEA, which sees exclusivity as a necessary condition, and a defeat for the independent Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA), which argued for multiple representation. Fifty-five percent of those eligible cast a ballot.

Early next year, Springfield teachers will vote on which of the two organizations they want as that exclusive representative, and we can expect NEA will devote both state and national resources to the campaign. The election will be crucial, since the power of incumbency makes decertifying an exclusive bargaining agent an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.

If NEA is successful in Springfield, it will be the opening salvo in a battle to uproot and dispose of MSTA, one of the largest independent teacher organizations in the country.

The November 9 EIA Communique’ featured two quotes from Robley S. Jones of the Virginia Education Association concerning charter schools (Quotes of the Week #4 and #5). It turns out Robley is a subscriber! He sent this reply, which I post here without comment:

Dear Mike,

Just for the record, our position on charter schools has not changed. Ten years ago and today we think the local school board should grant the charter. In Virginia local school divisions, for the most part, pay the lion’s share of the costs for schools. It has always been our positions that the decision to grant the charter should rest with those who are going to pay to run the schools.

We worked on the charter bill here, and we think it is a good one. We continue to support charter schools.

I was a bit bothered by the context the pay the piper quote – it was only in reference to who grants the charter.

Thanks for spelling my name right.

I enjoy your missives,
Robley S. Jones
VEA

Click here to read:

1) How Many Teachers Do We Need?
2) School Districts to File Class Action Suit Against Indiana State Teachers Association
3) Contract Hits
4) Last Week’s Intercepts
5) Quotes of the Week

Vote for your favorite via Valerie Strauss or Uncle Jay. (Full disclosure: Intercepts made the 2007 list, but not the 2008 list.)

Businesses and nonprofits are looking for ways to reduce spending anywhere possible. For many of them, conventions are a huge expense and they are desperate for tips on how to reduce costs. When they think of fiscal discipline, naturally they think of… the National Education Association:

Attendance is largely based on location, says National Education Association’s Michael McPherson. NEA’s convention, which typically draws 10,000 delegates plus 5,000 of their associates and family members, was held this summer in San Diego and will be in New Orleans the next. The locations are chosen 6 to 10 years in advance. Like the Global Cold Chain Alliance, NEA tried to make cutbacks members wouldn’t notice. The association encouraged more laptop usage rather than renting computers and cut back on catering by buying in bulk from Costco on location. It reduced signage and carpeting and rented fewer lamps, desks, and garbage bins for the convention floor. Staff members were also asked to book flights months in advance.

Trying to keep the cutbacks hidden from delegates is important, particularly the misinformed ones that asked for a boycott of Costco.

Former Washington Teachers Union President Barbara Bullock is released from federal custody.

The state and 81 percent of Hawaii State Teachers Association members approved a contract that removed 17 instructional days and furloughed the teachers for those days. So why are 95 of the state’s 283 schools – with teacher approval – now asking to convert training days to instructional days? Didn’t anyone read the contract before voting for it?